And you think to yourself, "hhhmmm hello can you not see me?" "Hello?"
In their defense, maybe they're just pre occupied and didn't see you. Or possibly they have some *unchewed beef* with you. Or maybe it's just a bad attitude, lots of pride and they don't care that you exist.
I have experienced the *you're there but I'll pretend that I don't see you* attitude from people sometimes and I've learnt not to take it personally and get on with life. I do try and make an effort to reach out to these people (walking in love and all) but if I see that they are basically not interested then I just take a backseat. Afterall not everyone is meant to be your friend, in such instances I resort to "agape loving" them from a distance.
The funny and unbelivable thing is that I was one of those people at one point. Yes....*hides face in shame- blushing a lilttle* I was one of those people that used to disregard people. And if we were to take a head count I'm not the only person that has gone down this road at some stage.
In my case I now think that it was because I'd had a huge "overdose of pride" so I tended to ignore certain people. If you were not in what I called my league, chances are I wasn't going to naturally gravitate towards you or say hi. I tended to keep to people who were like me in terms of likes, dressing and background and I thought we were basically the best thing since sliced bread (nah infact I thought we were better than that).
So if you dressed like you'd shopped in a gypsy market ( you know with unusual colour coordinations red vs yellow and blue and outfits from 1674) and if you pronounced English words in different tones without accentuating in the right places, I just felt you didn't meet the standard in my book and you'd be lucky to get a hi. Now I know this sounds bad but I didn't really do this consciously. All this was done on a subconscious level and these reflex behaviours were built upon years of my own wrong belief systems and prejudices.
Furthermore to add to my "big pride swelling head", I was well pleased with all my little accomplishments in life and thinking, I'm well on my way to achieving all the things I want. Got my Uni degree, job, house, car - you know the deal. Miss Independent well on her way to getting with Mr Hubby.
You've probably heard the saying, "Pride goes before a fall", I learnt the true meaning of this statement when I lost my job, my house, car and most of my possessions, all the stuff that I had been so proud of before. I was stripped until I got to the point where I could see that I was now nothing and I basically had almost nothing. I realised that all I'd had was from God. Yes, I had worked hard but I had all those things because of the grace of God. Any time He wanted, He could take them. I had known this all along but sometimes pride clouded my judgement and made me think I was better than other people who didn't have all those things that I had worked so hard for. I was reminded of King Nebuchadnezzer in the bible (Daniel 2-4), a man who was full of pride and God had to show him who was the boss.
Ok so what is Pride anyway? Well it's defined as
"a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing or conduct."
The bible says you should "... not think of yourself more highly than you ought to..." Romans 12:3
So you may be as "gawjuss" as a catwalk model (and Tyra Banks's got nothing on you) or richer than Donald Trump, but whatever your lot in life, don't let any of that get to your head. Treat people well, whether they are famous or not, treat them with love and respect whether they can do something in return for you or not. Don't show preferential treatment.
Next time you see a person on the street struggling, don't think for a minute you're better than them because your circumstances could change any minute and you could end up like them. National distasters happen all over the world and people become homeless within minutes.
The fact that we have a roof over our heads and food on the table is really the grace of God. May we never forget that. I'm not saying you shouldn't be pleased with yourself when you do well but remember that you were only able to get those things or be who you are because of God and don't think you are better than other people because of those things.
Lets deal with pride and pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal attitudes that need changing before God teaches us how to be humble the hard way. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, in due season He will lift us up. James 4:10
Have a great week ya'll!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment